Disability benefits in Cyprus are set to increase across the board, with the new framework expected to cover both existing recipients and people who had until now been left outside state support because of income criteria. The development was announced on Monday by representatives of the Cyprus Confederation of Organisations of the Disabled, the Cyprus Federation of Patients’ Associations and the Cyprus Third Age Observatory, following a meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace.
According to the organisations, the new benefits will no longer depend on income criteria, while the government is expected to announce the exact level of the increases in the coming days. Themis Anthopoulou, president of the Cyprus Confederation of Organisations of the Disabled, said the organisations had been informed that the first announcement on the new common legislation for people with disabilities would be made shortly, after the matter is taken to the Council of Ministers. She described the move as particularly important because, for around 20 years, most disability-related benefits had either remained unchanged or seen no meaningful increase.
The new legislation will provide horizontal increases for current beneficiaries, including people with severe disabilities and people with moderate intellectual disabilities. It will also introduce support for care needs without requiring a grading of the person’s disability. At the same time, it is expected to bring into the system a significant number of new beneficiaries who were previously excluded because support was linked to the Guaranteed Minimum Income scheme.
Anthopoulou said that, apart from people with severe mobility disabilities and people with visual impairments, who were already entitled to support outside the income-based framework, many other categories had depended on whether they met Guaranteed Minimum Income criteria. These included people with intellectual disabilities, mental health disabilities, multiple sclerosis, autism and other serious conditions. With the new law, she said, this link has been removed, allowing people with serious needs to access support regardless of household income.
Broader coverage and higher payments
Charalambos Papadopoulos, president of the Cyprus Federation of Patients’ Associations, said increases would now be granted across all existing benefits, including payments which were not initially expected to rise under the new law. He said this meant the increase would not only concern the broader group of patients brought into the new framework, but also benefits that had already been paid for years without adjustment.
The organisations said they were encouraged by the President’s continued engagement with the issues they have raised. Papadopoulos said there had been a useful exchange of views on programmes that the organisations are prepared to help shape and submit to the President, with the aim of moving them towards implementation in the coming months. A further meeting has already been scheduled for early autumn.
The discussion also touched on the situation of older people, long-term care and the need to support people who wish to remain at home as they age. Demos Antoniou, president of the Cyprus Third Age Observatory, said the meeting covered home-based care, dignified ageing, elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. He said the organisations were pleased to find a willingness to listen to their proposals and expertise.
Anthopoulou added that the new beneficiaries will also include groups such as chronic patients, dialysis patients and people with thalassaemia requiring regular transfusions, who until now could receive support only if they met income criteria. Asked whether the organisations were satisfied with the size of the increases, she said real satisfaction would only come when the rights of people with disabilities are fully met. Still, she acknowledged that Cyprus is starting from a very low point in disability-related welfare and said the first increase in 20 years was a meaningful step.
Need for individualised support
Both Anthopoulou and Papadopoulos stressed that horizontal increases, while welcome, cannot fully respond to the reality of disability. Papadopoulos said each case is different and that support should eventually be assessed in a more individualised way, so that people receive help according to their actual needs rather than through a flat approach.
The organisations also raised the role of informal carers, who often leave work or reduce their working lives in order to care for relatives at home. Antoniou said tens of thousands of people had reached the limits of physical and psychological exhaustion because of the burden they carry, while Papadopoulos noted that many of them have no formal rights and may later be left without an adequate pension.
Anthopoulou said the new law recognises informal care, adding that it is not in the state’s interest for people to be pushed out of the workforce and later become dependent on welfare themselves. The organisations said they now expect the next steps from the government, both on the level of the increases and on the wider reform of disability and care support.
Source: CNA
